For a Weasley
by Lobotomised
Summary: It should have been common knowledge that it is unwise - and quite possibly dangerous - to interrupt a reading Granger. Rose and Scorpius' first fated meeting aboard the Hogwarts Express. ONESHOT


'Hi.'

With the small and unceremonious greeting, Rose Weasley was jerked out of her book. She squinted up at the little boy in front of her. It was the boy from the station, that one her Dad had warned her about. Scorpius Malfoy, was it? Yes, yes it was. He fidgeted a bit and she blushed when she realised that she had been staring.

'May I sit down?' He gestured awkwardly into the compartment, which was empty except for her. Albus had deserted her in favour of some pretty girls a while back, with a promise that he'd save her a seat at dinner.

Rose cleared her throat. 'Of course you may.' Watching his gangly limbs flail about with his trunk, she added, nervously, 'But don't touch me, please, because my cousin Dominique said that the boys here probably have scabies.'

Scorpius sat down opposite her and scoffed. 'Well, that's stupid. My Grandfather told me that it's girls that have the germs. He called them "hormones".'

Rose made an affronted noise. Personal hygiene was above even the need for an orderly exotic currency collection on her list of priorities. She shot him a glare and returned her attention to her book – a far worthier candidate for her attention.

'What are you reading?

She felt her temperature rising. Not only had this boy been obnoxious enough to insult her gender, he was now interrupting her reading. She was her mother's daughter and it should have been common knowledge that it is unwise to interrupt a reading Granger.

'_A History of Magic_, by –'

'–Bathilda Bagshot. Yep.' He peered under the cover. 'I've got that book. Haven't read it, though.'

There was silence. Rose exhaled loudly through her nose. 'Right.'

Scorpius was unfazed. 'You're Rose Weasley.'

'I know.'

There was another silence, but as soon as Rose looked at her book, he spoke again.

'Which house are you gonna be in?'

Irritated, Rose said, 'It's impossible to know which house you'll be in before intimate head contact with the Sorting Hat.' _Intimate _was such a wordy word. 'Now stop interrupting me.' She shot Scorpius one last glare, then returned her attention once more to _A History of Magic_. She got through two paragraphs on Muggle voodoo before she heard a sigh from the occupied seat across from her.

'You're really boring.'

Rose didn't look up. 'Then find somewhere else to sit.' She furrowed her eyebrows and read on. …_what they called 'Voodoo' was a hoax; an amusement for the local witches and wizards, who –_

'I'm gonna be in Gryffindor.' The voice was decisive.

Rose couldn't help it. That comment immediately had her attention. 'I thought that all Malfoys had been in Slytherin?'

Scorpius scoffed. 'That's what I call presumptuousness.' He shot her a gleeful look. _Intimate_ was shot to hell by _presumptuousness._ 'Anyway, not all of them. My great, great, great, great,' he scrunched up his face in confusion, 'great uncle Tiberius was one of the first Gryffindors.'

Rose nodded. 'And I suppose you wouldn't want to be in Slytherin. My cousin Fred calls them a fat lot of pri-' She caught herself just in time.

Scorpius shook his head. 'Nah. Slytherin's an alright house. It's not like the whole house is – is –' He seemed to be fishing for a word.

'Contominated?' Rose offered, setting her book down and watching the pale boy's face relax into a smile at the word. He nodded.

'Yeah.' His eyes turned to the window, flickering with the movement of the meadows flying past the Hogwarts Express.

His was a darker blonde than his father's, whose hair Rose had heard had been nearly see-through as a kid. And greasy, her Dad had said, though her Mum had then told her not to trust anything her Dad said about Scorpius's Dad. Anyway, she thought, he wasn't unattractive, for a boy, and if she scrunched up her eyes and tilted her head to the side, he was kind of handsome.

'Why are you looking at me like that?'

Rose felt her face flame with colour at being caught staring at Scorpius Malfoy. Now he was staring at her. He had bluey-grey eyes – very sharp, but not mean. They were flitting over her face, taking in the red hair, freckles, blue eyes, and, no doubt, the infamous red Weasley ears.

'Stop it!' she said, embarrassed. Her face was probably out-doing her hair by now.

But Scorpius only laughed. 'You're kinda pretty.' His eyes scanned her features again, before he made a grinning concession: 'For a Weasley.'

Rose glowered, her sudden excitement at being called 'kinda pretty' turning again into anger. Shooting Scorpius one last scowl, she picked up _A History of Magic _again and buried her nose in it.

There was another sigh across from her and he said, 'Don't be annoyed. I was only kidding. I thought you could take a joke.'

She ignored him. _When these particular Muggles came into contact with such magics the result was chaos and utter confusion among the Muggle communities. The witches and wizards responsible, however, found this vastly amusing and often –_

'Rose,' he whined, then ordered, 'Talk to me!'

She lifted her book higher. _…found this vastly amusing and often attended the riots in disguise to further exacerbate –_

A History of Magic was suddenly snatched out of her hands and held above Scorpius Malfoy's grinning face. Rose yelled indignantly, snatching wildly at the book despite the obvious difference in their heights. She was short in stature and, for an eleven year old, he was unfairly tall.

'Give me my book, you dumb boy!'

Then came the ultimatum:

'Be my friend.'

Rose looked longingly at her book, held aloft by a pale hand. _What a stupid idea,_ she thought. 'You can't buy friendship,' she huffed, slumping back onto the seat.

The grin slid off Scorpius' face and he sighed, eyes downcast. He set the book next to Rose and sat down himself, turning back toward the window.

Her hand itched toward her book, but the look on the boy's face was pitiful. 'What's the matter?' she asked.

Scorpius pulled his feet up on the seat and hugged his legs to his chest. Rose fought the urge to tell him to remove his dirty sneakers from the scarlet velvet seat covers. He sighed again. 'I dunno. It's just that – that – no one… wants to be my friend.'

His face was pink with embarrassment from the admission, but Rose could see he was also upset and trying not to show it. 'Why not?' she asked, trying to make her voice gentle.

Scorpius shrugged, his eyes following the progress of a herd of cows whizzing past the window. 'It's my dad, I think. And my Granddad.' He fiddled with his shoelaces.

'What's wrong with them?' she asked curiously, leaning forward. She quickly realised how rude that was and backtracked hastily. 'I mean, why – why don't people like your patriorcs?' That was the word, wasn't it? 'I thought it was just my dad who didn't like your dad.'

Scorpius blinked. 'What? You don't know? About – about Vold…' His feet fell from the seat, and he leaned forward as well. Rose felt herself blushing again – this forward boy was intruding upon her personal space. She leant back again, crossing her arms across her chest defensively. 'I don't know what you're talking about. What's a vold?'

The boy fell back into his seat, his eyebrows disappearing in the blonde strands covering his forehead, a surprised whoosh of air escaping him. 'Wow... you don't? That's ... wow.'

Rose was completely baffled by this time and fidgeted uncomfortably under his eager eyes, but if she had learnt anything from her father at all, it was 'when in doubt, pretend you know what is going on'. 'So are we going to be friends, or what?'

His eyebrows shot up. 'Yes!' Then it was his turn to blush, and he nearly stammered in an attempt to regain his cool, 'I mean, yeah, I guess, if it's cool with you.'

Rose laughed and settled down to read her book again. With a grin on his face, Scorpius turned back to the window.

Later, around lunchtime, hearing the trolley lady calling out further down the corridor, Rose looked up from the heated game of wizards' chess she and Scorpius were currently engaged in and said, 'I take back what I said about not being able to buy friendship.'

Scorpius, eagerly prodding his knight across the board, looked up as well, surprised. 'What?'

Digging a package of sandwiches out of the bag at her feet, her smile grew. 'Corned beef.'

As if on cue, the trolley lady stopped outside their door. Rose grinned and gave the sandwiches a twitch. 'Seal the deal, Malfoy.'

Scorpius grinned back. 'Watch it, Weasley.'


End file.
